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I am offering a limited run of 6 sets of customizable horsehair Wookie Braids. They are hafted together as well as have the ends wrapped with artificial sinew. A set of 3 includes: 1 black, 1 white/blond & one brown. Each braid is ~40-42in in length. Please let me know the circumference that you would like for the looped braids or if you would prefer to have them not hafted together. Turn around time is 1 to 2 weeks, depending on my schedule. If you need them in a quicker timeframe please contact me first to be sure I can accommodate your request. If you have any questions please email me at gaslaveleia (at) gmail (dot)com. Please do not send me a PM, I may not see it for quite some time.

Cost: $30 for an un-looped set or $35 for a looped set including shipping to the US. International orders please contact me for a shipping quote. I ship Monday through Friday Fedex. Pricing is the same for the MOM set as well, unless you want the extra braids that are hanging down from the smaller black & white braid. Cost for the extra braids will depend on sizing & quantity.

Payment: Paypal only please. Once I have confirmed your request I will send you my paypal email address.

Please click on the link below the picture to go to a detailed gallery of the braids. If you would like a close-up of a particular braid or part of a braid please let me know.

Customizing: I like to post progress pics so you can see what you'll be getting & it also gives you the opportunity to let me know if you want me to make any changes before they are shipped out.

MOM Braids: Question from the old thread in the Cargo Hold:

Quote: "Is it possible to braid the rubber bands as seen on the MoM braids?"

From looking at close ups of the reference pics, I believe that's a flat form of sinew and not rubber bands, however I'm not 100% sure on that. I can put 2 Turks head knots on there for you. There are pictures of the Turks head knot located at the end of the braid gallery.

Depending on how exact you want to be, I can tell from close ups of the reference pics that the white (blond) braid & the brown braid are synthetic hair wrapped in a black cord & not sinew.

Synthetic Hair vs. Horsehair: Either will last you a long time providing you care for them properly. If you don't either can dry rot, mold or mildew. I have been working with horsehair since 1998 and can vouch for its durability.

Care: If the braids become dirty simply hand wash them with a mild shampoo such as Johnson & Johnson's Baby Shampoo. If you notice they are looking &/or feeling dry and dull, use a leave in conditioner like Infusium 23 which can be found at Wal-Mart or Sally's Beauty Supply.

Someone besides Stone Rook, posted an interest in a MOM set yesterday afternoon. Unfortunately, I didn't get your username written down before the thread was automatically deleted from the Cargo Hold. Please send me an email or post again here.

After much experimentation, here's the prototype of the black & white braid for the MOM set:

I've consulted 3 hairdressers and gone to a "braid" shop about this one. All of them gave me basically the same 3 answers: 1. It was multicolor hair. 2. The white was weaved (braided over) the black or 3. It was spot dyed/bleached.

I wasn't able to find multi colored hair. I tried weaving the hair in - that did not turn out well. Of course that was my first time trying to "weave" hair. So, I went with the spot bleaching method. It's a little time consuming, but so far has been the most promising. I am going to re-bleach the braid in the above pic to get it lighter.

I'm not 100% convinced though that the braid can't be done like the traditional 3 strand basic braid. I've looked through several leather braiding books and have not been able to find anything close. If anyone knows of a braiding book that has this braid in it or someone who is well versed in braiding horsehair please email me the info.

A quick update:
I received the horsehair braiding book yesterday. There are 2 possible braids that might work. I am planning on experimenting some with them this weekend. In the meantime, I've continued with the "masking" & bleaching. Here are a couple of progress pics - The first one is after the 1st round of bleaching. The bottom one is after the 2nd round of bleaching.

Hi All,
My apologies in not updating recently. Between work & the holidays I have not had much free time the last couple of weeks.

Of the 2 braids in the horsehair braiding book that might be possibilities - one will not produce the right shape or pattern. The other braid has some promise. The only problem is that the only example in the book is a 12 strand braid. I'm working on learning this one, however with 12 separate strands it is proving rather difficult to master.

I am planning on bleaching the braids that I already have done again tonight. With some luck I should have some progress pics up tomorrow or Thursday.

Quick update. I re-bleached the braids again last night. I should have progress pics posted either tonight (after 8pm EST) or in the morning. It looks like each one is going to take 3 bleachings. For each bleaching I am having to leave the hair bleach on the horsehair several hours. To give you an idea how much different horsehair is to bleach than human hair this same bleach turns my dark brown (almost black) hair "bleached blonde" in about 30 minutes.

I'll be bleaching the 1st round of black/white braids tonight for the third & final time. These are for TK7602, Stone Rook & Ripcode. Hopefully I will have your sets completed and ready to ship by Monday January 8th. That's the plan at any rate

I am also planning on taking and uploading some more pics either tonight or tomorrow.

I completely finished the 1st black & white braid today. Bigger pics are in the gallery. The glue was still wet when I took some of the pics so it shows up in a few of them. When it dries though it's clear. I also posted some pics of the turk head knots for the set of braids that hang down that are located at the bottom of the gallery.